Sharath NambalaMD at TravelChords Holidays Published On: Saturday, November 07, 2015 Views 2316

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Ingenuity and perseverance surely goes a long way in the current market dynamics. Although the startup sector is booming in India, it takes a lot more than an idea to make it big. Entrepreneurs often try to enter a sector where there is not much competition. However, Sharath choose to make a name for him in the highly competitive travel sector. A simple chat with him, will give you a fair idea about his knowledge and expertise in the travel industry.

His startup TravelChords holidays wants to revolutionize the travel industry with its turnkey packages spanning Estate Homestays & Resorts Services, Corporate Business Travel, MICE travel packages, International Holiday Packages. In addition to it, Sharath also provides Hospitality Solutions, Kitchen Equipment and Fabricated Equipment, Hotel Consulting to vendors for improving their services. Within a span of five years, TravelChords holidays has served 50000+ travelers and created a niche for itself.

Please provide a brief overview of your product/ service.

TravelChords is one of the pioneers who listed estate and plantation homestays and resorts located in hill stations with estates around them. Our sister concern business TravelMalnad is an exclusive portal where you can book some of the unique homestays and resorts in Karnataka (Malnad Region). TravelChords has served close to 50000+ travelers in last 5 Years and the numbers are growing. One can choose unique accommodation for their holiday and experience the ethnicity of the place.

What inspired you to build the above product/ service?

Tourism is an interesting industry with a lot of scope for improvement and increase in speed of connectivity. We built this service with a Motif of connecting tourists with some of the most fascinating holiday destinations.

What is your life mantra?

I take challenges practically as they come in life. I have learnt to stay calm in all situations which helps my decision making ability. Exercise and diet are part of my routine and i feel it energizes me.

What was the most challenging part of your journey till now?

Initially, it took time for us to convince homestays located in rural destinations to come on board and connect with travelers. Now, we get constant queries voluntarily from owners of homestays or resorts who are interested to list their properties on our portal and traffic for their business. Still, there is a long way to create awareness among hospitality providers to go completely online and maintain real time inventory.

How did you overcome those challenges?

Spending wisely is one of the best solutions to overcome the financial challenges for any business. Initial years, when my personal savings was invested for the business it was challenging for me to keep my lifestyle in sync with major saving planner.

Share some details about the investments that you have been able to fetch for the business till now.

The investments so far fetched are from personal savings and from the Capital raised by revenue generated by the business.

How do you protect yourself from the problem of Brain Drain?

As we all are aware attrition rate is high in Tourism Industry. However, the core team is intact and whenever they bring new ideas, strategies and information to the table we all assess together and take decisions. We try to keep the same team spirit during all situations.

According to you, what are the three qualities an individual must have to achieve success?

Positive Mindset
Punctuality
Perseverance

Which online tools/ services/ apps do you use the most and would like to recommend as well?

Sales Force
My SQL
Outlook

Share any one habit which you think makes you more productive.

Reading books from different genres and keeping up to date with current affairs rejuvenates my mind and help me to perform more productive.

Share any one habit which you wish to change in yourself.

I wish to dedicate more time for reading books, quite often the workload will be more and i miss to squeeze some time for my reading habits.

Answer in less than 50 words

One tip to success:

In my perspective success is a journey and not a goal post or final destination. One need to cautiously proceed in the journey and should know how to translate knowledge to action required for entrepreneurial journey.

One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:

Time miss management.

One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:

I learnt that any business idea we have should be sustainable. We should accept peer contributions which may be in terms of technology, deliverable, strategies… We should take ideas from all corners and assess how we can use it in the business to maximize productivity.

What are your plans for next 3 years?

In next 3 Years we should be the top promoters of hill station destinations.

If you get a chance to start your career again what would you do differently this time?

If i get a chance, I would love to start my business with more advanced technology available in the market.

What are your top three getaway destinations?